Expedition Saved!
Commander Winfield Scott Schley & Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Survivors
Commander Winfield Scott Schley (fourth from left) with the men who rescued the survivors of the Greely Expedition. (Public domain, Wikimedia Images)
USS Bear
The USS Bear anchored in Godhavn Harbor, Greenland in 1884 during the renowned Greely Relief Expedition. Image courtesy of the U.S. Navy.
Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Survivors & Relief Expedition Members
A photograph from 1884 showing the survivors of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition alongside members of the relief expedition. Image courtesy of the U.S. Navy.
NYT Arctic Heroes
The New York Times newspaper front page for August 5, 1884 with a story about the welcome parade that was hosted for the Lady Franklin Bay expedition survivors
Commander Winfield Scott Schley
In 1881, Commander Winfield Scott Schley, then stationed at the Charlestown Navy Yard, read a newspaper article about an unusual expedition led by the U.S. Army. The article detailed the ambitious Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. Schley found it foolhardy that the Army, not the Navy, was in charge of such a dangerous and complex mission over the water. Little did he know that this very expedition would one day lead him to undertake a daring rescue mission of his own.
The Call to Rescue
By autumn 1884, the men on the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition were dangerously low on food, and many were already on the brink of death. In the absence of any news from the north, public outcry in the United States grew louder for a rescue mission. The government responded by purchasing two Arctic ships, the Bear and the Thetis, and appointed a man to lead the daring mission: Commander Winfield Scott Schley.
Commander Schley had already proven his abilities during his service in the Civil War and on various assignments across the globe. He was known for his boldness, organizational skills, and meticulous attention to detail. In December 1884, after being appointed by the Secretary of the Navy, Schley set to work preparing for the daunting rescue mission.
One of his first tasks was to ensure the ships were fully equipped to withstand the harsh conditions they would face. Schley organized the provisions for the Bear and Thetis. He also ensured that each member of the rescue crew had survival kits in case the ships were trapped by ice, a lesson learned from the fate of the Proteus.
The Treacherous Journey
On May 4, 1884, Schley set sail from St. John’s, Newfoundland and led his rescue armada northward. Schley’s crew navigated through the shifting ice of the upper Davis Strait toward Greenland, where they were to meet up with the Thetis before making their final push to Cape Sabine. Upon reaching the frigid waters of the Davis Strait, however, Schley faced the very challenge he had anticipated: dense, shifting ice. To clear a path, he had brought along explosives—“torpedoes”—that could be used to break through the ice. His crew drilled holes in the ice, set off the explosives, and slowly made their way northward.
The Moment of Rescue
After a month of grueling progress, Schley’s ships finally arrived at Cape Sabine on June 22, 1884. There, the men spotted signs of life: a dilapidated camp that looked visibly battered by storms. As they made their way ashore in small boats, the crew climbed a steep escarpment and found a sight that would be etched in history.
Adolphus Greely, gaunt and covered in the telltale signs of months of deprivation, crawled out from a collapsed tent. His health had deteriorated severely, and he was barely able to speak. With a whisper of astonishment, Greely muttered, “Seven of us left. Here we are, dying like men. Did what I came to do—beat the record [of Farthest North].” Before he could say more, he collapsed from exhaustion.
But Greely was alive, and Commander Schley had succeeded in his mission: he had rescued the last of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition.
Works Cited
Cohen, Ron. "Schley: The Navy Man Who Saved Greely." The History Reader, 18 Mar. 2019,
https://www.thehistoryreader.com/military-history/schley-the-navy-man-who-saved-greely/.
"The New York Times." The New York Times, 5 Aug. 1884, p. 1. TimesMachine, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1884/08/05/106284479.html?pageNumber=1
Thiesen, William H. "Greely Rescue." Ocean Explorer, U.S. Department of Commerce, 2019,
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/19bear/background/greely-rescue/greely-rescue.html.
"USS Bear" (1884). NOAA Ocean Exploration, U.S. Navy,
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/19bear/background/greely-rescue/greely-rescue.html.
"Greely Relief Expedition." NOAA Ocean Exploration, U.S. Navy,
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/19bear/background/greely-rescue/greely-rescue.html.
"Winfield Scott Schley and Greely Rescuers." Wikimedia Commons, U.S. Library of Congress,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File.3b11762.jpg.